ARC Review: Six of Crows - Leigh Bardugo

Title: Six of Crows
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Pub Date: September 29th, 2015
Publisher: Henry Holt
Page Count: 480

Game of Thrones meets Ocean's Eleven in this brand-new book in the world of the Grisha by New York Times-bestselling author Leigh Bardugo.

Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can't pull it off alone...

A convict with a thirst for revenge.

A sharpshooter who can't walk away from a wager.

A runaway with a privileged past.

A spy known as the Wraith.

A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums.

A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes.

Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist. Kaz's crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction—if they don't kill each other first.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository | Chapters Indigo

Easily my favorite book of the year. While it felt so good to be back in the Grishaverse, the real show stopper were the new characters that stole my heart as easily as they could steal heavily guarded objects. - Nova @ Out of Time

I must warn all of you now. This review is probably going to be long and it's going to be fangirling. My goal is to make you want to read this book now because trust me, you do.
I've been a Leigh Bardugo fangirl since [a lady never reveals her age] and she's become an insta-buy author. There's just something about her books that make you feel like you're part of the story. I can't describe it - there isn't really an exact formula. It's a mix of everything, really. Yeah, that's called talent.

I wasn't sure about this book at first because there isn't much of a plot on the back cover. We don't really know what it's about. I was unsure of that but I'm actually so glad I went in blind because the actual plot is so epic and I love how creative Leigh combined science with The Grisha, even though most of the characters weren't Grisha.

There are six different main characters. However, unlike other books I've read, Leigh seamlessly bounces between the characters and even more spectacular, she's able to make us feel connected to them. I don't even like 3rd person perspective most of the time but I loved this book to pieces. Only hours after just finishing it, the only thing I want to do is read it again.

Kaz Brekker, the leader, kind of reminds me of a mix of The Darkling and Neal Caffrey from White Collar. He's terrifying in that ruthless way but he's also charming when he wants something. I don't know why I always get intrigued by the bad characters but Kaz played that antihero thing really well. He's also got a one track mind to the point of obsession and I found that really interesting to read. [I also ship Kaz with someone because even antiheroes deserve love, right? I've felt like antihero relationships are 10x more fun. Remember Klaroline? That was my life.]
I would love to tell you about every character in detail but that would take forever. All you need to know is that I loved all of them because they were so different. Like one was almost nerdy, which is making me giggle. My favorite character has to be Nina though. She's so sassy and fun. And she's brave. Brave to the point where I want to put the book down and process her strength of character. Plus, her and Matthias reminded me of M'gann and Connor from Young Justice if you're into that. My fangirl heart, be still.

The ships have sailed in this book. Metaphorically and literally. Even though there was so much action and the stakes were so high, I couldn't help but love the bits of romance that were pulled into it. There were a two ships and I loved them both for different reasons. One was more prominent than the other but for some reason, I liked the less prominent one more because of the possiblities for some epic romance in the sequel to this book.

The best thing about Six of Crows, though? The best? That would have to be that Leigh manages to mix all the genres so this book is pretty much for everyone. I laughed like it was a contemporary, put the book down because of ship feels, turned the pages rapidly because of the action scenes, my eyes got bigger during fantasy scenes because magic! And this is how I felt when I finished the book:

THE SEQUEL COMES OUT IN A YEAR. WHAT DO I DO?

I mean, was there ever any doubt?

Leigh's Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter | Website

Leigh Bardugo is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Grisha Trilogy: Shadow and Bone, Siege and Storm, and Ruin and Rising. She was born in Jerusalem, grew up in Los Angeles, and graduated from Yale University, and has worked in advertising, journalism, and most recently, makeup and special effects. These days, she’s lives and writes in Hollywood where she can occasionally be heard singing with her band. Her new book, Six of Crows, arrives fall 2015.

 

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Book Review: Dumplin' - Julie Murphy

Title: Dumplin'
Author: Julie Murphy
Pub Date: September 15th, 2015
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Page Count: 384

Self-proclaimed fat girl Willowdean Dickson (dubbed “Dumplin’” by her former beauty queen mom) has always been at home in her own skin. Her thoughts on having the ultimate bikini body? Put a bikini on your body. With her all-American beauty best friend, Ellen, by her side, things have always worked . . . until Will takes a job at Harpy’s, the local fast-food joint. There she meets Private School Bo, a hot former jock. Will isn’t surprised to find herself attracted to Bo. But she is surprised when he seems to like her back.

Instead of finding new heights of self-assurance in her relationship with Bo, Will starts to doubt herself. So she sets out to take back her confidence by doing the most horrifying thing she can imagine: entering the Miss Clover City beauty pageant—along with several other unlikely candidates—to show the world that she deserves to be up there as much as any twiggy girl does. Along the way, she’ll shock the hell out of Clover City—and maybe herself most of all.

With starry Texas nights, red candy suckers, Dolly Parton songs, and a wildly unforgettable heroine— Dumplin’ is guaranteed to steal your heart.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository | Chapters Indigo

Petition to make this part of the school curriculum? I can name a bunch of people who would benefit from this being taught in school [one person being me.] - Nova @ Out of Time

You should know that this entire review is a gush. There is nothing about this book I can pick on. I loved it with my soul and even though I didn't cry, I still felt all of the feelings.

First up, the body positivity. I want to address this head on because it is so perfect. From the lady who gives unsolicited advice, to the girl who feels awful about herself, to the main character who's struggling to feel alright, this book covers it all. First up, a mini rant from moi: I absolutely HATE unsolicited advice. When you see someone with for example, acne, do not and I mean do not recommend them a skin care product in the middle of a conversation. And to all of Willowdean's haters? Do not tell her to "go to a gym" or "go on a diet" because same reason. It's hurtful and you're an ass. I feel like some people confuse body positivity with advocating for unhealthy lifestyles and that is simply not true. If having a healthy lifestyle is your priority, do it. If you want to encourage others to join you, don't limit that encouragement to only "fat" people. Newflash: skinny people can be unhealthy. I'm sick of people hiding their fatphobia behind the excuse of trying to promote "health." This book showed examples of both unsolicited advice and the healthy lifestyle and it did it wonderfully. It's always a little different to see things from an outside point of view. I've probably given people unsolicited advice and I never knew it was so hurtful so I'm so glad I learned from reading this.

Also, I can't believe I have to say this but fatshaming does not equal skinny shaming. I saw some things about how calling people "twiggy" [which this book does] is as bad as calling people "fat." My only point is that if you get shamed for being skinny, the media is still reassuring you that you're perfect. If you get fat-shamed, it's practically a pile on. Obviously you shouldn't be "shaming" anyone but I just want to put that out.

Willowdean is like me. I totally understood everything she went through and then some. I'm so glad to be able to read about a girl as strong as her. She constantly goes between her confidence and self doubt. Okay, it is not easy to be confident when you've constantly got people trying to tear you down so I found Will's moments of weakness to be so human and so relatable.

I was able to connect with different parts of different characters. For example, one character has this urge to make everyone like her and at points of the day, I get this. I'm always like, "Why doesn't she like me?" when the truth is that it does not matter at all. In the end, the answer to almost every problem was that it doesn't matter. The things we're stressing so hard to get right does not matter. Sometimes, we look towards others and wonder how they're holding everything together and there's a part in the novel where the audience only sees the front of the dress and how it's all perfect while the back is being held by pins because the stupid dress won't zip up. This was my fave part in the entire book because a) the imagery is stunning and b) it's holds so much truth. We show everyone a finalized view of things and they judge without knowing all the behind-the-scenes work that was put into it. Basically the: "you know my name, not my story" quote but with less melodrama.

And I know this was not the nicest written review. In fact, I feel like this was more of a discussion than a review. Writing wise, this book was well paced and flowed without bumps. Most of my reviews focus on the book but this book was so personal; it hit SO CLOSE to home. You know when you either read something or see something and go, "OH MY GOD YOU UNDERSTAND ME?" and you think it's so cool? [Even cooler when you realize that you/the author have never met?!] I don't feel the need to talk about the writing and the character-driven plot. I just want to talk about how this book made me feel. It made me feel empowered and loved and like I'm not the only person who struggles with having confidence despite telling everyone that I do not give a walking, running, swimming, jumping, flying ____.
Side note: for a book on the topic of reading something that gives you this "OH MY GOD YOU UNDERSTAND ME!" feeling, check out this book.

This book is not just for fat people. This book is for everyone because despite size, all of us feel inadequate at some point in time. Whether it be greasy hair, yellow teeth or the fact that our face is not symmetrical, who cares? Some of these characters got made fun of people of other imperfections like messed up teeth or uneven feet. Dumplin' is about loving the skin we are in and if you've ever felt not good enough on any front, I'm pretty sure you'll be able to connect with this novel.

Julie's Goodreads | Instagram | Twitter | Website

Julie Murphy lives in North Texas with her husband who loves her, her dog who adores her, and her cats who tolerate her. When she's not writing or trying to catch stray cats, she can be found reading, traveling, or watching movies so bad they're good. Her debut contemporary young adult novel, Side Effects May Vary, is out from Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins and has been well-received by Kirkus, School Library Journal, VOYA, Booklist, Seventeen Magazine, and Teen Vogue. Dumplin', Julie’s sophomore novel has received glowing reviews including two stars from Publishers Weekly and Booklist. Film rights have been optioned by Disney.

 

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Book Review: A Court of Thorns and Roses - Sarah J. Maas

Title: A Court of Thorns and Roses
Author: Sarah J Maas
Pub Date: May 5th, 2015
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Page Count: 416

A thrilling, seductive new series from New York Times bestselling author Sarah J. Maas, blending Beauty and the Beast with faerie lore.

When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin—one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world.

As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she's been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow grows over the faerie lands, and Feyre must find a way to stop it . . . or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.

Perfect for fans of Kristin Cashore and George R. R. Martin, this first book in a sexy and action-packed new series is impossible to put down!

No one knows how stupid I feel for not reading a Sarah J. Maas sooner. ACOTAR is my first and Throne of Glass, I'm coming for you. - Nova @ Out of Time

After reading thoughts: I cannot formulate words. Seeing as I didn't get an ARC [Bloomsbury doesn't have a Canada division] I had to wait like the rest of the general public, which is fine with me. This just means I get to flail with you and flailing I did. I just can't. Yes, if you haven't realized, this review will be very professional.

First off, no one told me that this was a Beauty and the Beast retelling until midway, when I started seeing the parallels. After that, it became glaringly obvious and as someone who loves these kinds of books, I was totally indulging myself in the similarities. There's a curse and there's a girl who gets trapped in a different land. But... there is a crazy queen and faeries. I didn't think I liked faeries but man, they could probably charm the pants off anyone.

I'd heard from others that this book was really steamy but to be honest, I didn't really get that feeling. Yes, there are sexual scenes but I still consider this to be YA. I loved the characters a lot. Feyre was so kickass. There's a lot of development for her, especially pertaining to her hatred of faeries and how her opinions change at a pacing that's believable. Tamlin, you enigma, you. I wasn't sure how to feel about him. I don't find him particularly swoony but I do think he compliments Feyre really well.
Really, my heart goes out to Rhysand. He's that character that's got his own agenda the whole time and you never know if he's good or bad. Why do I always fall for the bad [seeming] guys? He's smooth, as a faerie is, but also seems to have layers to his personality. Hey Sarah, if you want to write a book with him as the main character, I would read it.

I really loved how natural the story moved along. It starts on Earth and in a few chapters, she's whisked away to the Faerie World. There's detail on what Feyre learns in the Faerie World and nothing ever feels infodumped which is incredible. We're being introduced to the world the same time Feyre is so I'm able to grasp everything and it makes it all feel so real. I love this world! When it comes to high fantasy, I always feel like infodumping is a repeat offender [which I can understand why but still...] but this book didn't do that and I say:

The plot isn't particularly fast paced but it gets really interesting from the middle and I was practically turning pages frantically, trying to figure out what happened next. I was so impatient because the suspense was real! This is because of Sarah's writing. I adore it and I'm so glad I was able to appreciate it because it means that I'll be going into her other books with full confidence. If they're anything like this one [swoony characters and a MC who can hold her own,] I'm already sold!

With flaws that I barely noticed and overlooked, this book impressed me and surpassed my expectations. Well, what can I say? If you were one of the many people who rec'd it to me, you may now use the highly coveted, "I told you so" line because you did. And I agree. This book is awesome - definitely deserves the hype.

Sarah's Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter | Website

Sarah J. Maas is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Throne of Glass series (Queen of Shadows, Book 4, will be out in September 2015), as well as the A Court of Thorns and Roses series (out 5/5/15).

Sarah lives in Bucks County, PA, and over the years, she has developed an unhealthy appreciation for Disney movies and bad pop music. She adores fairy tales and ballet, drinks too much tea, and watches an ungodly amount of TV. When she's not busy writing, she can be found exploring the historic and beautiful Pennsylvania countryside with her husband and canine companion.

 

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ARC Review: Red Queen - Victoria Aveyard

Title: Red Queen
Author:Victoria Aveyard
Pub Date: February 10th, 2015
Publisher: Orion
Page Count: 320

Mare Barrow's world is divided by blood—those with red and those with silver. Mare and her family are lowly Reds, destined to serve the Silver elite whose supernatural abilities make them nearly gods. Mare steals what she can to help her family survive, but when her best friend is conscripted into the army she gambles everything to win his freedom. A twist of fate leads her to the royal palace itself, where, in front of the king and all his nobles, she discovers a power of her own—an ability she didn't know she had. Except . . . her blood is Red.

To hide this impossibility, the king forces her into the role of a lost Silver princess and betroths her to one of his own sons. As Mare is drawn further into the Silver world, she risks her new position to aid the Scarlet Guard—the leaders of a Red rebellion. Her actions put into motion a deadly and violent dance, pitting prince against prince—and Mare against her own heart.

From debut author Victoria Aveyard comes a lush, vivid fantasy series where loyalty and desire can tear you apart and the only certainty is betrayal.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository | Chapters Indigo

[Red Queen] starts with a impossible event that defies everything its society thought to be true. I'd like to think that all of us have the main character, Mare's potential to do the impossible in us, which is why I connected with her so well. - Nova @ Out of Time

This has been one of the books I was most excited to read. I didn't really know if it was good or bad, but the idea seemed so interesting I decided to just take a chance on it. I'm glad I did because this book blew me away and I don't know if I'll be able to stop thinking about it (Note: this review was written in September.)

Victoria Aveyard is a debut but I wouldn't be able to tell. She's got such a polished style to her description and dialogue that I just couldn't help but fall in love with everything that was being written. (Not even kidding, I loved the descriptions, dialogue was real and Mare's monologues were written so beautifully and invoked emotion out of me.) I got completely sucked into this world, which isn't always easy. I have this problem where I don't imagine and though this story was no different, I could feel the characters and the places in ways I don't know if I've ever done before. Plus, she makes me jealous of my own writing!

I loved every character. Every last one had their contribution to the story as a whole. And I'm so glad because this wasn't just a "Mare" show where it's all about the main character. The other characters had their significance with each other to create story far bigger than solely Mare's. Each character had personalities that shone through the cracks of the very serious issues in this book. Even the villains, they were brilliant and conniving, like they should be. Scheming and hiding in plain sight until the right time, it was all so brilliant. And I'd love to give you some examples but that may be spoilery.

Which leads me to my next point. This book had such a strong element of betrayal and trust. We all know that in life there are going to be people to trust and people to never trust. However, like in life, Red Queen takes you through a journey where the ones you're not supposed to trust are the ones you do. I didn't predict anything. If there was foreshadowing, I didn't see it. All I saw was right in front of me and this book left me with that "dammit! I should've seen this coming," thought. This book messed with my head until the end. And it kind of left me dazed, actually, because the ending was so abrupt. I wanted more and I couldn't have it.

So why is this not a five star rating? Haha, you guessed it. Red Queen gets one of my prestigious (not really) ratings of Infinity Stars. What separates a 5 from infinity? Feels. If you don't know the way I operate, it's mainly that if a book is completely perfect (which I do think it can be), it gets five stars. Red Queen was perfect to me. I enjoyed it the entire time. I cannot point out flaws. But it gets this higher rating because of the feelings that came out of me. I felt so much, more than I usually do and that's what really impressed me about this book.

I completely left the dim lighting of my iPod in a dark room, taken into this world and to be honest, I kind of want to be back in it.

 

Victoria's Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter | Website |

I'm a screenwriter/YA author who likes books and lists. This site is the nexus of my universe.

My book RED QUEEN will be published Winter 2015 from HarperTeen at HarperCollins. I'm repped by the incomparable Suzie Townsend at New Leaf Literary & Media, Inc.

The genres I'm into include YA, Fantasy, Historical, Adventure, Apocalyptic - if people are dying, I'm buying.

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Blog Tour Review: Gone Too Far - Natalie D. Richards

Want more of this awesome tour? Click here.

Title: Gone Too Far
Author: Natalie D. Richards
Pub Date: January 6th, 2015
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Page Count: 304

Keeping secrets ruined her life. But the truth might just kill her.

Piper Woods can't wait for the purgatory of senior year to end. She skirts the fringes of high school like a pro until the morning she finds a notebook with mutilated photographs and a list of student sins. She's sure the book is too gruesome to be true, until pretty, popular Stella dies after a sex-tape goes viral. Everyone's sure it's suicide, but Piper remembers Stella's name from the book and begins to suspect something much worse.

Drowning in secrets she doesn't want to keep, Piper's fears are confirmed when she receives an anonymous text message daring her to make things right. All she needs to do is choose a name, the name of someone who deserves to be punished...

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository | Chapters Indigo

This story weaved real world ideas with a thrilling plot to create a masterpiece. - Nova @ Out of Time

I've read Natalie's previous book, Six Months Later and LOVED it! I'm familiar with her writing style so I pretty much knew what the rating for this would be. I knew exactly what I was getting myself into when I opened this book and it did not disappoint! Natalie has a talent for writing thrillers but still keeping them really relatable to present life.

This plot was centered around revenge and the idea of a person dishing out karma. I've never really read these kinds of books but I know that they never end without some form of damage. Knowing this info, I was pretty interested in how things would turn out. The ending completely surprised me but I know that it couldn't have ended any other way.

I absolutely adored all the characters. They all have distinct personalities that make the story go along as well as add subplots to make everything come alive. Also, Nick is my favorite. While Piper's in over her head, Nick is like the balance and he's just so wise. Take a look: "They're easy targets, but they are still people -not popular kids and football players and... shoplifters. Just people." Like, what a wise guy.

I found this book very relevant to my own life. Three in the morning, I'm reading this book and I realize how true it is. There are so many people who hate the "populars" [sometimes with reason] and we all just forget that popular or not, jock or nerd, we're still humans and we are all going through different things.
This book [in all its beauty] showed me that.

I don't usually do a breakdown of my rating, simply because there usually isn't an equation. However, for this book, I knew exactly what factors played into this rating.
There was a star for the writing, a star for the characters, a star for the plot, a star for the twist at the end, a star for the lesson that this book taught me. And you might be thinking, wait, that's already five! But, I'm not done. I keep a rating of infinity stars to special books that don't leave my mind. This just means that the feels for the book was completely off the hook and even though I finished it a week ago, I can't stop thinking about how much this book related to me. And if you pick it up, which you totally should, I hope you feel the same things I did.

infinity sign.

Natalie's Goodreads | Twitter | Website |

Natalie D. Richards won her first writing competition in the second grade with her short story about Barbara Frances Bizzlefishes (who wouldn't dare do the dishes.) Now she writes about awesome girls, broody boys, and all things dark and creepy. When she's not writing or shopping her manuscripts, you can probably find her wading through the towers of dog-eared paperbacks that have taken over her bedroom. Natalie lives in Ohio (Go Bucks!) with her techno-wiz husband, three amazing kids, and a seventy pound dust-mop who swears he's the family dog.

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Highlight of 2014: 1989 - A Love Story

Hold it! This is not and will never be just an album review. I'm counting down all the things I loved most about 2014 and 1989 is not just an album. Enjoy fangirling and squealing below.  

 

Note: Out of Time is not responsible for any symptoms of sickness from exposure to fangirling. If sickness occurs, we highly recommend immediate rush to the doctor or in extreme cases, the ICU. Nova possesses enough fangirlishness to maim a small mammal, you have been warned.

Artist: (Queen) Taylor Swift
Album: 1989 (aka bae)
Release Date: October 27th, 2014
Record Label: Big Machine Records

Track List:

1. Welcome to New York
2. Blank Space
3. Style
4. Out of the Woods
5. All You Had To Do Was Stay
6. Shake it Off
7. I Wish You Would
8. Bad Blood
9. Wildest Dreams
10. How You Get the Girl
11. This Love
12. I Know Places
13. Clean
14. Wonderland
15. You Are in Love
16. New Romantics

"OH MY GOD OH MY GOD ONE CANNOT COMPREHEND HOW MUCH I LOVE TAYLOR SWIFT. AND I AM ONE OF THE SADDEST FANGIRLS EVER BECAUSE I DON'T BUY MERCH AND I DON'T GO TO SHOWS BUT SCREW THE HATERS, TAYLOR IS MY FAVE." - Thoughts from Nova's mind.

me whenever I hear Tay
on the radio.

Do I even need to go track by track? Every single track has something about it that makes it memorable. I don't know what it is about this album, but ever since it came out, I've just been sickeningly happy. And I'm completely loving it. NO RAGRETS.

Welcome to New York is like my dream because I'm still too young for BEA but whatever. Blank Space is such a good song and HOLY CRAPOLA SEAN O'PRY IN THE VIDEO *FANS SELF*. Style just has a really catchy tune and I love the speaking parts. Out of the Woods? I can only take it in small doses, yeah, it's that song in the album. The one I don't really like. All You Had to Do Was Stay/I Wish You Would are kind of similar to me so LOVEEEEE. Shake it Off is so simple because it makes me feel good about myself. Also, I've found myself saying "hella" more than I should. Oops.

Then there's Bad Blood with a hella amount of sass (see, I did it!) I love the acapella
beginning and yeah, haters, Taylor CAN sing. Wildest Dreams is one of my
favorites on the record. HOLY SHIZZLES it gives me so much feeling.
It pretty much represents all those guilty pleasure Bad Boy books I read because all I want for christmas is (cocky) BAD BOY (or boy in general. I'm not picky.)
<--- not really a bad boy, but he's casted as the bad boy in a lot of Wattpad stories, so I think that counts. Also, the look. AHHHHHHHHHHH.

How You Get the Girl is basically Taylor taking all the cutest contemporaries and pressing puree into her songwriting machine (aka her brain.) It's cute and then sad and then cute again.
This Love, Clean and You Are In Love are slow so they aren't so giddy but I like them because they make me pause and then I'm like deep in thought "oh. love. that's what it's like." I Know Places is such a dark song that I'm like totally in love. I love the chorus and I kind of hate myself because it sounds so bad when I try to sing it because I can't hit the notes properly. Damn.
Wonderland... I can't even. There's nothing I can say that talks about the perfection that is wonderland. (didn't you flash your green eyes at me?)
AND FINALLY: New Romantics! New Romantics is like Taylor being all sassy and fierce. I love this song because it makes me feel good about myself and it's so relatable and all the jerks who say Taylor only writes songs about relationships and ex boyfriends needs to listen to it. It's like how we're too good to be crying and it's like the Kelly Clarkson song, Stronger. 

Um duh?

Sadly, Taylor keeps taking down any videos or MP3 of her songs that aren't bought. Basically, it's to get rid of piracy which I guess is a good thing. So if you want to listen to the songs, you're going to have to buy them.

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